When are Canine Juvenile Cataracts an Emergency Condition?

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July 2026

In this VETgirl online veterinary continuing education video, Dr. Amy Kaplan, cVMA, DACVECC, MRCVS reviews canine juvenile cataracts. Here we have a 2-yr old mixed breed dog brought in through emergency for evaluation of scleral hyperemia and epiphora. She’s squinting here from her eyeballs hurting, so it’s time to perform a thorough ophthalmic examination.

This VETgirl’s ophtho exam starts with assessing menace response, dazzle, and pupillary light reflexes. We may not see good responses in patients with mature cataracts as they can completely obstruct light passage to the retina and the optic nerve.

Next, with direct ophthalmoscope we can see flare in her anterior chamber, so she also has uveitis. She’s got scleral hemorrhage seen here as well, but that was from a tussle a few days prior.

Next, we determined she had normal tear production test a Schirmer Tear test before we applied some fluorescein stain and we didn’t’ see any corneal stain uptake.

Lastly, we apply anesthetic drops, such as proparacaine, wait a few minutes for it to numb the cornea, and then we perform tonometry. Remember that restraint around the neck, or measuring tonometry at the corneal edges can falsely increase the pressures. Normal canine intraocular pressures (IOP) should be between 15-25 mmHg, with higher values suggesting possible glaucoma and lower values reflective of potential uveitis.

This girl had an IOP of 25-26 mmHg in both eyes, but also had evidence of uveitis – so when both glaucoma and uveitis are present such as we see here with lens-induced uveitis the intraocular pressure spike from glaucoma actually gets blunted a bit by the inflammation. So always interpret your results in context of your patient!

The term “Juvenile cataracts” means cataracts that develop at a young age – often around 1-3 years old but they can start even younger. Surgery is often recommended to improve vision and provide long-term comfort.

In the ER, this VETgirl uses topical eye drops to manage comfort and intraocular pressures, and refers these patients to a boarded veterinary ophthalmologist ASAP. I use topical glucocorticoids like pred acetate, plus or minus topical NSAIDs to reduce inflammation.

And if I’m concerned about a secondary glaucoma, I add in a topical carbonic anhydrase plus or minus a topical beta blocker to help reduce aqueous humor production.

Unsure about other elements of eye exams in the ER? Check out more of our VETgirl videos:

How to perform a Schirmer Tear Test

How to perform a fluorescein stain dye test

How to measure intraocular pressure

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